Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

Sheep Meat: UK Trade with EU

Jenny Chapman: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what plans he has for the public procurement of sheep meat in the event that the UK leaves the EU without a deal.

George Eustice: The Government already requires all Government Departments to follow the “Balanced Scorecard” methodology and the "Government Buying Standards for Food and Catering” when buying food and services, and making catering decisions. These standards require all meat products to meet UK minimum standards and encourage sourcing of seasonal produce. In the event of a ‘no deal’, we are preparing contingency plans to minimise as much as possible the disruption across the range of our food and farming sectors. The Prime Minister and Secretary of State have made clear that we will support vulnerable sectors, such as our sheep farmers through Government intervention should this be necessary.

Food: Storage

Kerry McCarthy: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment he has made of the potential effect of the UK leaving the EU without a deal on 31 October 2019 on the UK’s food warehousing and storage capacity.

George Eustice: Defra Ministers and officials meet regularly with the food industry to understand the potential impacts of a no deal exit and support contingency planning by the industry. This has included discussion on storage capacity in the UK at that time of year.